


To Catch a Falling Flower

by occultclysms



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Falling In Love, Flowers, Kissing, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25274836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: People like to picture aliens being incredibly tech-savy and superior to humans in every way. Now Kyungsoo wouldn't dream of describing Jongin as inferior, but the confused-looking boy that appeared in his backyard one day - dressed in lavish garments seemingly made of flowers and terrified of a bypassing car - somehow didn't fit the stereotype.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 21
Kudos: 71
Collections: Kaifectionery Round 4





	To Catch a Falling Flower

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so bad at summaries, so i used my prompt... which gets the point across, but there isn't much focus on jongin's previous life at all, though he is still very Not tech savy
> 
> thank you to b for betaing this, you're amazing considering how much stuff i throw at you

The ship crashes. It really wasn’t supposed to end up like this— Jongin shouldn’t even be on Earth right now. But instead, here he is, climbing out of his space ship into the backyard of an Earthling, one of the few species left in the galaxy to not acknowledge other life outside of their planet's own.

Jongin isn’t exactly subtle looking either. He has no knowledge of this planet or their culture, so he idles by his ship while he waits for the human in the house who’s yard he just destroyed to come outside and assess the damage.

The back door swings open and out walks a human in a sweatshirt and shorts. The human stands there in disbelief, a hand over their mouth before their eyes latch onto Jongin.

“What did you do to my yard?” They exclaim and Jongin sucks in a breath. Everything is cool, he can handle this.

“Uhhh,” Jongin replies when the human gets closer. They seem upset but Jongin is distracted by the pretty orifice on the human rather than listening to what they have to say.

“Are you even listening to me? Why is there a spaceship in my yard and why are you dressed like a fairy?”

“I’m Jongin, a Fect from Lueia. Your species doesn’t have any intergalactic courts so we can’t really straighten this out the legal way, but I’m stuck here for a bit as my ship is as you can clearly see— in pieces,” Jongin explains and the human’s jaw drops.

Jongin catches sight of a strange round object on the pavement next to the human’s car and screams. Why do they leave weapons out in plain sight like that? Jongin grabs onto the human and uses them as a shield from the blue weapon before realizing it might belong to the human.

“Please don’t blow me up,” Jongin requests, dropping to his knees in front of the human.

“Where would I get a weapon?”

“That thing on the pavement,” Jongin supplies and the human blinks at him.

“That’s my car. I use it for transportation. Like your ship, but stuck to the ground. I suppose I should introduce myself; I’m Kyungsoo Do.”

“Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo,” Jongin mumbles. So there isn’t a weapon there, just a suspiciously shaped vehicle. Kyungsoo holds out his hand and Jongin stares at it. Is this some sort of human custom he doesn’t know? A small creature flies in front of Jongin and he jumps into Kyungsoo’s arms.

“Does Lueia not have birds?” Kyungsoo asks, making no movement to let go of Jongin.

“No…”

“Okay, well, let’s get you inside at least,” Kyungsoo says. The two of them walk back across the green flooring and up the steps into the house. Jongin’s clothing made of flowers trails behind him, garments loose and flowing, practically defying gravity, but that doesn’t seem to phase Kyungsoo at all.

“You don’t seem to care that I’m an alien,” Jongin comments after Kyungsoo sits him down behind the counter that separates Kyungsoo’s living room from his kitchen.

“I’ve always believed in aliens,” Kyungsoo replies, busying himself with a strange shaped pot and two cups. “Aliens drink tea right?

“I don’t know what tea is,” Jongin replies, trying to get a better view on what Kyungsoo is making.

“Tea is a drink that most humans drink or at least have tried once or twice. I’ll make some and then you can tell me why you landed in my backyard of all places,” Kyungsoo says.

“That can be arranged.” Jongin observes as Kyungsoo makes this tea he speaks so highly of. A cup is slid in front of Jongin that’s still steaming. Kyungsoo leans on the opposite side of the counter, not touching his tea either.

“Wait a moment to drink it, it’s hot. Unless aliens have figured out how to drink ninety degree drinks, that will burn you,” Kyungsoo explains.

“Degrees?” Measurements are one of those things that Jongin never really understood. There’s the universal way of measuring everything, but Fects use another system because that’s the system they’ve had since before they knew of aliens. Which means Jongin has to keep two totally different systems right, and that doesn’t always work out that well.

“Don’t bother with it,” Kyungsoo waves off. “So why are you here on Earth?”

“I was supposed to go on a trip to visit my friend, Jongdae, but then I took a misturn somewhere and didn’t believe my navigation machine. With no clue about the gravitational levels here, I got too close and crashed,” Jongin explains. “It’s annoying for you I’m sure, but I’m kinda stuck here until further notice.”

“I actually don’t care that much,” Kyungsoo admits. “I get lonely and you will at least be a source of interest during the day as I’m on break from school. There’s only two issues though.” Jongin braces for the worst. “One, your ship in my yard is gonna get people out here asking questions which is probably bad for alienkind or some shit like that. Two, your clothes won’t fly here. Flowers live outside, not as our clothes. No offense to your outfit, it’s pretty cool, but if you walk down the street like that someone will say something.”

“Oh, I can deal with those. The ship I can condense, I just need to let it cool off a bit. And I’ll ditch my clothes right now.” Jongin stands up before Kyungsoo can reply and snaps his fingers causing the flowers to all dissipate. “Is this better?”

Kyungsoo stares directly into Jongin’s eyes, not looking any lower and says, “Not really. Humans really don’t like being naked around each other unless it’s under particular circumstances.”

“I think these count as peculiar circumstances, to be honest,” Jongin replies, crossing his arms. 

“Particular isn’t the same thing as peculiar,” Kyungsoo points out. “Let me get you some of my clothes and we can hope they’ll fit right.” Kyungsoo darts away and around the corner, leaving Jongin to look at all the stuff Kyungsoo has sitting around his house.

Where Kyungsoo was previously standing is quite interesting, so Jongin gets up from the chair and walks around the counter, hands touching everything he can get them on. There’s a silver box with black thingys on the front. Jongin pushes one down and finds some resistance, so he presses down harder. The inside of the silver box starts to glow red-orange, and Jongin is about to try touching that too, when suddenly Kyungsoo pulls him away from the strange box.

“Why are you trying to touch the inside of my toaster?” Kyungsoo asks, still holding onto Jongin’s hand.

“What’s a toaster do?” Jongin asks.

“I forgot for a second that you’re an alien,” Kyungsoo mumbles. “The toaster heats up food and those red-orange things in there will burn you. Although I have no idea if you would get burned like a human or not but it’s better to not take the risk.” 

“That’s no fun,” Jongin replies.

“Maybe so, but from now on no touching anything.” Jongin can’t resist himself, so he sticks his finger into Kyungsoo’s mouth. The temptation was simply too strong. Kyungsoo pulls Jongin’s finger out of his mouth and glares at him. “That includes me.”

“Oops?”

“You’re cute, but that doesn’t work on me,” Kyungsoo replies. “But since you got me scared for a second, I dropped the clothes for you at the bottom of the stairs.” Jongin smiles and Kyungsoo sighs, but cracks a small smile. “Please put clothes on now.”

* * *

Jongin adjusted to staying with Kyungsoo pretty easily which surprised him. Each day they do something and Kyungsoo takes forever trying to explain some basic concept of humanity to Jongin, then at night they make dinner and cuddle on the couch until bedtime.

Kyungsoo will swear up and down that he hates to cuddle, but ever since Jongin got scared the first night here because of car sounds and climbed in bed with Kyungsoo it’s not even disputed which bed Jongin sleeps in.

This makes Jongin start to wonder if he has a romantic interest in Kyungsoo. He’s quite pretty and looks very kissable (this is a word that Jongin learned from watching a movie with Kyungsoo and while it still doesn’t make any sense to Jongin, it seems to be a positive thing so it must apply to Kyungsoo).

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin whines. “I’m hungry.” Jongin is stretched out on Kyungsoo’s sofa with his head in Kyungsoo’s lap while he does crossword puzzles.

“Hi hungry, I’m Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo replies, not looking up from his crossword.

“Can we try cooking together?” Jongin asks.

“That didn’t work so well last week, but I’m open to trying again.” Kyungsoo says.

“Yay!” Jongin cheers, shooting up from Kyungsoo’s lap and running into the kitchen. “What do I grab first?”

“You let me grab the things and then I will tell you what to do so my house doesn’t burn down.” Kyungsoo corrects. Jongin nods, holding his hands behind his back to prove that he will be good.

Kyungsoo takes out a pot and fills it with water, and places it on the stove. Jongin resists the urge to touch the fire, focusing instead on Kyungsoo’s face. Kyungsoo apparently doesn’t look exactly like all the other male humans on Earth, the word he used was transgender, but it doesn’t matter to Jongin because Kyungsoo says he’s a boy and that’s good enough for Jongin.

“Can you be trusted to grab the pasta box out of the cabinet?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Yes, Kyungsoo,” Jongin sing-songs. He opens one of the cabinets above the stove and grabs a dark blue box. Jongin hopes he’s remembering what pasta is because if not that would be quite awkward. “Is this pasta?”

“Yep.” Kyungsoo gingerly takes the box from Jongin and rests it on the counter. “Now we wait for the water to boil and then we put the pasta in.”

“Are we putting anything on the pasta?” Jongin asks.

“I don’t feel like making pasta sauce, so no, but there will be cheese sprinkles to put on at the end, don’t worry,” Kyungsoo says, leaning against the counter and slouching his shoulders.

“Isn’t slouching supposed to be bad for you?” Jongin asks.

“You’re right, but slouching makes it look like I don’t have boobs, and that’s the vibe I want right now,” Kyungsoo replies and Jongin frowns.

“I think you’re a very nice boy with or without boobs, but you will be a hunched over boy if you keep slouching,” Jongin says, pouting. Kyungsoo crosses his arms and straightens up.

“Is this better?” Jongin smiles. “Oh, I think the water is done boiling. Do you want to pour the pasta in?” Jongin nods and Kyungsoo takes the lid off the pot with a hot pad and Jongin pours the pasta in.

“Now what?” Jongin asks.

“Now we wait some more for the pasta to cook.”

“That’s boring. Entertain me.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and Jongin wraps his arms around Kyungsoo, head coming to rest on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“How am I supposed to entertain you?” Kyungsoo asks. “I am essentially very boring and all we’ve been doing for the past three weeks is just normal human things.”

“Well, you can tell me a story,” Jongin suggests.

“What kind of story?”

“Anything.” Kyungsoo thinks about it for a moment and decides on something. “Well, I had this crazy dream a few days ago. I was a runaway prince and I fell in love with a pirate. Then it turned out I was also a mermaid. Crazy dream, honestly.”

“That’s a very cool dream. Was I there by chance?” Jongin asks.

“You were there actually,” Kyungsoo says. “But in the dream you were one of the co-pirates. You were very cool though.”

“I wish I was the pirate,” Jongin comments.

“You were a pirate, just not the pirate I ended up falling in love with,” Kyungsoo points out.

“But that’s exactly what I want,” Jongin says, not realizing the gravity of his words before Kyungsoo turns his head to face Jongin better.

“Jongin, do you know what you just said?” Kyungsoo asks softly. “Because it’s okay if you misspoke or something.”

“I don’t think I did,” Jongin replies, hiding his face in Kyungsoo’s neck. “I just really like you.”

“The pasta!” Kyungsoo exclaims, pulling away from Jongin and turning the heat off the pasta. The water had been bubbling over and has now calmed down a lot. “Okay, let’s put a pin in this until after dinner.”

“What does that mean?” Jongin asks, Kyungsoo really has to stop using expressions because Jongin has no clue about what any of them mean.

“It means we are going to pretend you didn’t say that until after dinner.” Jongin frowns, this doesn’t seem like a nice expression, but he’ll pretend it’s okay.

“Okay, to see if it's ready, you have to throw it against the ceiling,” Kyungsoo says. He uses a wooden spoon to pull a few strands and throws it against the ceiling. It sticks.

Jongin can’t help that that looks fun. Without thinking, Jongin sticks his hand in the pot of hot water and throws a clump of spaghetti against the ceiling.

Kyungsoo’s jaw drops and they both stare at the ceiling. There’s too much pasta to actually stick, so it all falls— right onto Kyungsoo’s face. Jongin can’t help but burst into laughter as Kyungsoo grabs as much of the spaghetti off his face and tosses it at Jongin.

“I thought you were hungry?” Kyungsoo whines. “Now my face is greasy with pasta oils.”

“I was, but I couldn’t resist.” Jongin shakes the pasta off and onto the floor. “I’m bored now.”

“Let's eat what's left of the pasta then we can go wash our faces, okay?” Kyungsoo counters.

“Then can we talk about the thing we aren’t talking about?” Kyungsoo looks confused for a moment, but realization dawns on him.

“Yes, that’s okay.”

The two of them dish up pasta, while ignoring the mess that’s on the floor. Small talk is made over dinner, but nothing that really sticks with Jongin.

“You were right about your face feeling oily,” Jongin says. “Now my face feels like that and I don’t like it.”

“That’s why we are going to go and wash our faces,” Kyungsoo says, standing up. He holds out his hand to Jongin who takes it and they walk up the stairs to Kyungsoo’s bathroom.

“Are you going to wash my face for me?” Jongin asks.

“Are you incapable of doing it yourself?” Kyungsoo counters, but there’s no accusation in his voice.

“No, I just like looking at you,” Jongin replies. Kyungsoo squeezes Jongin’s hand, but doesn’t reply. They get into the bathroom and Jongin sits on the toilet seat lid while Kyungsoo pulls out two face wipes.

“Okay, I’ll agree to clean your face, provided you sit still and let me do mine first,” Kyungsoo says. He quickly rubs the face wipe over his forehead, cheeks and nose. “Okay I am oil free now.” Kyungsoo tosses the wipe in the trash and grabs the second one off the counter and goes to straddle Jongin’s lap.

Unlike the way he did his own, Kyungsoo is much slower with his movements. He wipes one of Jongin’s cheeks then brings the wipe across his chin and to his other cheek. Kyungsoo stares at Jongin’s face, but doesn’t look directly in his eyes.

“Okay, done,” Kyungsoo chirps. He tosses the wipe in the trash, but doesn’t move from his spot. Jongin and Kyungsoo stare at each other for a moment and Kyungsoo bites his lip. “So you were serious about liking me?”

“I don’t fully understand human feelings, but whenever I look at you I get this fluttery feeling in my stomach and I get the urge to kiss you even if I still don’t get why people do it,” Jongin says and Kyungsoo looks shy, but he doesn’t run away.

“I feel the same way about you,” Kyungsoo replies. “I never expected myself to have such a soft spot for an alien, but here we are.” Once again they lapse into silence, only staring at one another.

“Could we try this kissing thing?” Jongin asks. All the movies he and Kyungsoo have watched hyped up kissing like it’s this magical experience, the kind that makes music soar when you kiss your soulmate for the first time. Jongin wants that.

“I don’t see why not,” Kyungsoo says. “Follow my lead, okay?” Jongin nods and Kyungsoo cups Jongin’s cheek before bringing his face so close to Jongin’s that their noses brush. Kyungsoo presses his lips to Jongin’s for a moment, no movement, nothing extra, just his lips against Jongin’s. He pulls back after a moment. “Was that okay?”

“Yeah, your lips are soft,” Jongin comments and Kyungsoo blushes, the tips of his ears turning pink. Kyungsoo comes back in, but this time he adds a little bit of movement into the kiss. Jongin tries to reciprocate, but he has no idea what he’s doing. Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to mind, perfectly happy just to be intimate with Jongin.

Kyungsoo keeps kissing Jongin until he has to catch his breath. He pulls away, but keeps very little distance between them.

“I think the movies were right,” Jongin says. “Kissing is not as weird as I originally thought it to be.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Kyungsoo replies. “But I’m not gonna overwhelm you with the intricacies of how humans give each other physical affection yet, so I think I’m gonna put my pajamas on and go to bed.”

“I will join you then.” Kyungsoo climbs off Jongin’s lap and walks out of the bathroom with Jongin trailing behind. Jongin waits for Kyungsoo to pull out pajamas for the both of them, throwing a pair at Jongin who catches them. He still hasn’t quite grasped the human concept of modesty, at least in a physical sense. Jongin thinks the human form is quite beautiful and doesn’t get why everyone doesn’t walk around naked. But Jongin understands that Kyungsoo wants to remain somewhat modest so Jongin doesn’t look if they change in the same room as not to make Kyungsoo uncomfortable. 

Jongin strips out of his day clothes and drops them into the hamper, pulling on his pajamas. He climbs under the blankets and gets comfortable. A moment later Kyungsoo is next to him, chest pressed to Jongin’s back.

“Can we try a different position to cuddle?” Jongin asks.

“I don’t see why not,” Kyungsoo replies. “What did you have in mind?”

“Something where we face each other,” Jongin says.

“Okay, turn around and face me.” Jongin does as asked and Kyungsoo adjusts them so Jongin’s head rests on his chest and their legs tangle together. Kyungsoo’s arms wrap around Jongin and Jongin wraps his back around Kyungsoo.

Being here with someone he cares about so deeply makes Jongin feel complete. 

* * *

Jongin adjusts to his new life perfectly. Even when Kyungsoo goes back to school, they make it work. Jongin cleans up and cares for the plants in the backyard and started going for walks on his own. Overall, pretty good life. Then each afternoon, Jongin gets to see Kyungsoo, kiss his cheek and ask him about his day.

One day while Kyungsoo is in class, a knock comes at the door. Jongin knows he’s allowed to open the door, but should be cautious because some people suck.

“Coming,” Jongin calls. He walks over to the front door and peaks through the little peephole on the door. On the other side is Jongdae, the friend Jongin was supposed to go see when his ship crashed. Jongin opens the door and Jongdae waltzes in.

“So uhhh, where the fuck have you been?” Jongdae asks and Jongin winces, this is going to be hard to explain.

“My spaceship crashed here, so I’ve been living with Kyungsoo, the owner of this house for two months or so,” Jongin replies.

“And you didn’t think to tell me!” Jongdae exclaims. “You know how hard it was to track you even just to Earth?”

“I have no communication systems here,” Jongin defends. “Earth doesn’t even know aliens exist.”

“Then I see the issue, but I’m here now and I can get you out of this Kyungsoo’s guy’s place,” Jongdae says. “Let’s go.”

“Wait— there’s a problem. I can’t leave.” Jongdae puts his hands on his hips.

“What’s the issue? Are you being kept here against your will?” Jongdae asks.

“Quite the opposite, I actually really like it here. I’ve fallen in love with Kyungsoo—” Jongin has bad timing saying that as Kyungsoo just walked in the front door and is now staring at Jongin, completely ignoring Jongdae.

They hadn’t said ‘I love you’ to each other yet because neither really seemed ready to use such a loaded word to describe their relationship.

“I love you too,” Kyungsoo replies and Jongin smiles. Part of him always knew that Kyungsoo would return his feelings, but it was always so nerve wracking, Jongin never said anything. Kyungsoo comes to Jongin and wraps his arms around Jongin and gives him a quick kiss. “I love you so much.”

“I hate to break whatever this is up, but Jongin aren’t you coming home?” Jongdae asks, finally getting Kyungsoo to pay attention to him.

“Huh?” Kyungsoo asks.

“I’m the friend Jongin was trying to visit when he crashed in your backyard, and I can take him back. In fact, I would like to because all your friends back home have been crazy worried about you,” Jongdae says and Kyungsoo turns back to Jongin, looking torn, but Jongin isn’t at all.

“I want to stay here,” Jongin decides. “I would like a communication device to talk to my friends, but I’m head over heels with Kyungsoo and this has been the happiest two months of my life.” Jongdae looks surprised, but doesn’t throw a fit.

“I can give you mine,” Jongdae says. “I will still send your regards to Chanyeol and Baekhyun though.”

“What’s your name?” Kyungsoo asks and Jongin is confused, why is Kyungsoo asking that?

“Jongdae.”

“Nice to meet you, Jongdae,” Kyungsoo replies, and Jongdae salutes before going back outside, presumably to get Jongin the communication device. “Maybe you’ll be amused by this, but the other pirates in my dream were Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongdae. The four of you were a cool crew, I admit.”

“Okay, but which one did you get together with?” Jongin asks. “Yes, I will be judging which one your got together with.”

“It was Chanyeol.” Jongin makes a gross face and Kyungsoo hits his shoulder lightly. “You’re so mean.” Jongdae walks back in with a small black box for communicating, he sets it on the counter.

“It was nice to see you again, Jongin, and I’m sad to see you go, but I hope you have a wonderful life with Kyungsoo here,” Jongdae says, giving a final wave.

“I’ll miss you too, Jongdae.” Jongdae smiles and walks right back out the door.

“No tearful hug goodbye?” Kyungsoo asks and Jongin laughs.

“If I had hugged Jongdae, he would have punched me. That’s the most sincere interaction we’ve ever had,” Jongin replies.

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah, Fect are weird, but don’t worry about it,” Jongin says. “Anyways, how was your day at school?” Kyungsoo smiles and Jongin realizes that while technically his home is millions of miles away, his true home is right here.


End file.
